Dollar General workers at a Florida store were left without a working restroom, OSHA says

• A Dollar General store in Florida was cited for seven violations by OSHA inspectors.
• That included the lack of a functioning restroom for its workers.
• The OSHA area director criticized Dollar General for repeated safety violations.

Dollar General workers at one of its Florida stores were left without a working restroom, according to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. 

Federal inspectors visited the discount store in Brandon, Florida back in January, where they found a total of seven violations. These were issued to the company in May. 

That included the serious violation of not providing workers with a working restroom, which OSHA says exposed "employees to adverse health effects and sanitation hazards."

An OSHA document says the inoperative lavatory was corrected during the inspection, but it still proposed a $7,366 fine. 

The store's largest proposed fine came from a repeat violation of obstructing exit routes, for which OSHA wants to fine Dollar General $156,259.

In a press release earlier this month, OSHA slammed the retail chain for facing more than $21 million in fines from 243 inspections since 2017. An OSHA spokesperson told Retail Dive that the chain has paid $4 million of the fines it owes. The company has the option to contest these citations and fines.  

In a statement sent to the Miami Herald in relation to the safety violations found at its Brandon store Dollar General said: "We regularly review and refine our safety programs, and reinforce them through training, ongoing communication, recognition and accountability. When we learn of situations where we have failed to live up to this commitment, we work to timely address the issue and ensure that the company's expectations regarding safety are clearly communicated, understood and implemented."

Dollar General did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside US working hours.